MAZ unexpectedly joins the EV market with its first ever electric bus.

Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ), a Belarusian manufacturer (Eastern Europe), introduced this week its first all-electric bus, the MAZ 303E10. It's quite an achievement, as Belarus, outside of the European Union, rarely appears in EV news.

The first model is based on the latest generation of the low-floor MAZ 303, has a length of 12.43 m, can take over 70 passengers and has a range of up to 300 km (186 miles). The real-world range is probably considerably lower as the battery pack is 285 kWh. The heating is also electric.

Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko, who tested the Tesla Model S in 2017, was present at the MAZ 303E10 launch. By May 2021 the company is expected to produce and deploy a total of 10 units for the home market.